There are different types of websites and every type needs a different level of web development skills and experience in order to be created. While the static web pages need only a basic knowledge of HTML, the dynamic pages utilize much more complicated scripts written in different scripting languages. Depending on customers’ skills, there are web design software products for totally inexperienced users with only basic knowledge, and also complicated development packages designed for experienced professionals.
Get a domain name
No matter what type of website you need to create, there are some elements which are always needed. First of all, you need a domain name. The domain is the address of your website. It is good to keep its name short, informative and easy to remember. Some webmasters are not using a separate domain for every website, relying instead on sub-domains or on addresses which contain folders under the primary domain. These practices are not recommended unless you need to run a microsite related to your primary website subject. In all other cases it is good to consider buying a domain name.
Choose a web hosting package
The second important element is the web host. This refers to the space on the Internet where you will put your website to make it available for the clients. There are different types of web hosting features and, depending on your website's requirements, you can go for a shared web hosting account or for a dedicated web hosting service.
With the shared web hosting account you will gain an excellent service with many features at an attractive price. This type of web service is suitable for small to medium personal and business websites.
For websites which consume more resources and traffic, it is good to consider buying dedicated, semi-dedicated or VPS (Virtual Private Server) packages. The dedicated web hosting solution is a pricey option, suitable only for enterprise class websites, web portals or e-commerce solutions with very high system requirements and a great number of customers. With the dedicated web hosting service the customer gets a web server set up only for himself, which he can use for one or many websites. Because there is only one client on the server, such types of plans don't have restrictions as to the CPU load and used resources (except for the web traffic and data storage which are upgradeable).
The semi-dedicated and VPS services have a valuable cost/efficiency ratio. At really low prices (compared to dedicated hosting) they offer similar services shared between 2-4 clients on a server.
Website design
If we assume that you have registered a domain name and already have a web hosting account (note that you can register a free domain name with our Value, Plus and Exclusive web hosting plans), you are probably thinking what to do next to get a professional looking website.
The answer is not that simple - depending on your website's needs, your site's content and your skills as a webmaster, you can go for different types of website platforms, scripting languages, database solutions, etc. Also, depending on your website’s platform you can create your website design.
A successful website depends on good planning and professional website design. The web designers consider all website details (page layout, types of content and even development platform) in order to create a professional looking website template.
Website development
Once the website template is created, the website can be passed on to the web developer, who creates its menus, adds scripts, forms and functionality. Depending on the website’s needs, these elements can be developed by using plain HTML or by using PHP and other scripting languages. The usage of a scripting language enables developers to create more complicated websites with support for different database management systems like MySQL and PgSQL. Also, to make things simpler, the developers can use a number of development frameworks which provide them with useful and reusable solutions to common web development issues.
Ready-to-use PHP scripts
If you want to create a website for yourself or for your company, but can't invest time and money in web development and design, you can utilize some ready-to-use solutions. There are plenty of free PHP scripts, and a great number of easy-to-install web design templates for them. By using popular open-source platforms like Joomla, WordPress, phpBB, 4images and osCommerce, you can create your website in a few hours. All these scripts are available for installation from their respective home pages. Once downloaded, they offer an installation through a PHP-based installation wizard. Once installed, they can be customized by the site's administrator by using a web-based Control Panel.
To make this process even simpler, NTC Hosting offers you the option to get these CMSs, forums, blogs and other website platforms pre-installed on your website. By ordering some of our CMS Hosting plans you can get a freshly installed Joomla, Moodle, WordPress or 4images platform, ready to use in your web hosting account. Also, there are another 40 free PHP scripts (including phpBB3, osCommerce, Mambo, SMF and others) available for instant installation through the 1-click script installer platform provided with every NTC Hosting web package.
Even more, with our web hosting solution you can get a professional looking designer template. All web templates are available for download or installation in our web hosting Control Panel.